A few weeks ago I was began a search for an answer to the question “How do you hold people accountable without blaming? What is the difference between accountability and responsibility and where does acceptable failure come in? “, and threw out some ideas about failure more often being an opportunity to improve than a chance to blame.
We know that accountability is strong in the most successful companies. Individuals accept it, in fact they look for clarity in accountability to support them in their job, and mangers and leaders hold others accountable to perform as part of the company. This ties back to the consistent belief that change is ongoing in top performers and accountability for and to that change is a must. It also ties back to the primary role that managers play in promoting and supporting change and accountability.
Tom Smith and Roger Connors highlight four steps to achieving an accountable organization: Seeing it, being alert and flexible enough to recognize what needs to be done, even as that changes; Owning it, aligning your work with what the company needs; Solving it, especially when this requires cross functional activities and Doing it, focus on what needs to be done, what is a priority for now, and sustain an environment for change.
Amy Edmonson offers the following steps to creating a safe environment for taking advantage of failures and reframing them in light of true opportunities to learn: Accurately describe failure and that it can be expected to occur in your environment; embrace the messengers, modeling the understanding that we each have limits of our knowledge and asking for assistance; invite the participation of others to detect and analyze failure, and identify the opportunity to promote intelligent experimentation and set boundaries. There are times, albeit a few, that accountability includes consequences because of true mal intent or inability despite the best of efforts of manages and leaders. In these instances, the reasons for the consequences must be made clear. This allows others to continue forward in a safe environment.
How else might you answer the question of accountability, blame and acceptable failure in a culture that is required to change?

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